System and method to minimize grid spinning reserve losses by pre-emptively sequencing power generation equipment to offset wind generation capacity based on geospatial regional wind conditions

ABSTRACT

A system and method to preemptively adjust power generation of one or more non-wind power generators based on near term wind generation capability, spinning reserve margin, and/or power grid spinning reserve forecast requirements to offset wind power generation based on geospatial regional wind conditions.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The subject matter disclosed herein relates to methods and systems forpower generation, and more particularly to electric power gridsconnected to both wind power generation systems and other, non-windpower generation systems, such as gas turbine power generators.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A power grid distributes power by generating electricity at a powergeneration facility, and then distributing the electricity through avariety of power transmission lines to the power consumer. The powergenerator in many, if not most, cases consists of one or more spinningelectrical generators. Sometimes the spinning generators are driven by ahydroelectric dam, large diesel engines or gas turbines; in many casesthe generators are powered by steam.

When the power generator is a so-called spinning electrical generator,i.e., a gas or steam turbine generator, it typically does not operate atpeak, i.e., 100% capacity, rather operates, under normal conditions,with a spinning reserve margin, which is the extra generating capacitythat is available by increasing the power output of generators that areonline, i.e., already running and connected to the electric powergeneration facility. For most power generators, this increase in poweris achieved by increasing the torque applied to the turbine's rotor, forexample, by increasing the gas or steam flow or pressure to the turbine.Maintaining a spinning reserve is important to efficient and timelypower generation, as increased power demands can be met virtually inreal time by employing the spinning reserve capacity. This is incontrast with non-spinning reserve, i.e., extra power generatingcapacity that is not currently running or connected to the system, whichtypically can only be brought online with some delay.

Due to the need to have sufficient grid spinning reserve to accommodate,for example, peak demand load requirements, and avoid power disruptions,brownouts, blackouts, etc., grid spinning reserves tend to be maintainedat relatively conservative levels, for example, by running numerous gasturbines but maintaining each at a run rate sufficiently below capacityto allow for near instantaneous increased power generation in responseto increased demand. Because a spinning electrical generator tends tooperate at higher efficiency as it approaches 100% capacity, runningbelow capacity tends to result in inefficiencies, known as grid spinningreserve losses. Accordingly, it would be desirable to minimize gridspinning reserve losses by reducing the reserve margin requirement,while maintaining sufficient spinning reserve to meet anticipated peakloads.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, an electric power systemcomprising an electric power grid comprising one or more powergenerators is disclosed. The electric power grid may be configured todetermine a spinning reserve margin for the one or more non-wind powergenerators, and to determine at least one atmospheric or environmentalfactor influencing wind generation capability for a region associatedwith the electric power grid. The electric power grid may be furtherconfigured to determine, based on the at least one atmospheric orenvironmental factor, near term wind generation capability of a windpower generation system connected to the electric power grid. Theelectric power grid may be further configured to determine a power gridspinning reserve forecast requirement, and to receive, initiate, and/ortransmit instructions to adjust power generation of the one or morenon-wind power generators based on the near term wind generationcapability and the power grid spinning reserve forecast requirement.

In another aspect of the disclosure, a method is disclosed that maycomprise determining a spinning reserve margin for an online electricpower grid served by one or more non-wind power generators; determiningat least one atmospheric or environmental factor influencing windgeneration capability for a region associated with the online electricpower grid; determining, based on the at least one atmospheric orenvironmental factor, near term wind generation capability of a windpower generation system connected to the online electric power grid;determining a power grid spinning reserve forecast requirement; andproviding instructions to adjust power generation of the one or morenon-wind power generators based on the near term wind generationcapability and the power grid spinning reserve forecast requirement.

In yet another aspect of the disclosure, a method is disclosed that maycomprise determining a power price spark spread for power being producedby one or more non-wind power generators associated with an electricpower grid; determining near term wind generation capability of a windpower generation system connected to the online electric power grid; anddetermining, based on the power price spark spread and the near termwind generation capability, whether to adjust power generation of theone or more non-wind power generators.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an exemplary electrical power distribution grid of anembodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 2 is an exemplary flow diagram illustrating a method of practicingan embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 3 is an exemplary flow diagram illustrating a method of practicinganother embodiment of the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 illustrates a high level distributed electrical power grid,generally 100, according to an embodiment of the disclosure. As thereillustrated, one or more traditional electric power generationfacilities 110 in the electrical power grid 100 may be coupled tosubstations 125 and solar arrays 210 and/or wind turbine farms 220.Although FIG. 1 illustrates three forms of power generation, one ofordinary skill in the art will recognize that the present disclosure isapplicable to any form of power generation or energy source.

Each electric power generation facility 110 may comprise one or morenon-wind power generators, 112. The non-wind power generators 112 may beany one of, or any combination of, for example, gas turbine generators,steam turbine generators, battery packs, and capacitor banks or anyother type of non-wind power generator. Each non-wind power generator112 may be connected to the electrical power grid 100 served by theelectric power generation facility 110, and controlled using controlmodules suitable for the purpose. Power production may be controlled atthe grid level in order to meet load demand by sending a load requestsignal to increase or decrease power production to individual powergenerators. The grid may also issue a remote start-up or shut-downsignal to the power generation unit. Modern grids control both load rampand unit start-up/shut-down automatically based on pre-programmedcontrol logic including reserve margins. Legacy grids controlled some orall aspects of this manually via telephone calls to the power generationplant/facility operating personnel. Each power generation unit mayinclude a dedicated control system to manage unit operation in similarfashion to modern automotive engine controllers. An example powergeneration unit control system manufactured by General Electric Companyis the Speedtronic Mark-VI power generation unit control system. Inaddition to integrated unit control systems, alternate control systemsmay include Distributed Control Systems (DCS) and Programmable LogicControllers (PLC).

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the electric powergeneration facility 110 and/or electrical power grid 100 may beconfigured to determine the spinning reserve margin for each of thenon-wind power generators 112. For example, an electrical power grid 100or electric power generation facility 110 may determine, based onhistorical experience and/or data, that a power reserve margin of 5%should be maintained at a particular time of day. This power reservemargin may be determined, for example, based on historically known peakload times of day, times of the year, temperature data, etc. To use asimplistic example, if the electric power generation facility 110 hadtwo identical gas turbine generators, it could maintain a 5% spinningreserve margin by running both gas turbine generators at 95% capacity,or by running one generator at 100% capacity and the other at 90%capacity. Other combinations are of course possible in electric powergeneration facilities that employ numerous types of power generationequipment to maintain their preferred spinning reserve margin.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the electrical power grid100 or electric power generation facility 110 may be further configuredto determine, or to access information concerning, at least oneatmospheric or environmental factor influencing wind generationcapability for a region 114 in which a wind turbine farm 220 associatedwith and/or connected to the electrical power grid 100 or powergeneration facility 110 resides. Such atmospheric or environmentalfactor may include one or more of, for example, wind speed, winddirection, icing on wind turbine blades, lightning strikes, wave heightfor off-shore units, etc. Such factor(s) may be used to determine thenear term wind generation capability of each wind turbine farm 220connected to the electrical power grid 100 or electric power generationfacility 110. Anticipated wind power generation capacity for aparticular region 114 may be derived from geospatial regional windconditions together with operation and maintenance factors. Sources ofgeospatial environmental and atmospheric data include NASA satellitedata feeds, private satellite data feeds, Google maps, NOA data feeds,weather channel links, private sensor arrays, etc. Unit operationalfactors and maintenance factors are typically accumulated at the unitcontroller level and aggregate data is available at the OEM data systemslevel, for example General Electric Company Monitoring & Diagnosticssystems.

The electrical power grid 100 or electric power generation facility 110may further be configured to determine a power reserve spinning forecastrequirement. For example, if the non-wind power generators 112 of anelectric power generation facility 110 normally operate at 50% capacityat midnight in a particular region 114, then its spinning reserve marginat midnight is 50%. But at noon in the summer, the same facility mayknow that, based on historical data, it will experience peak loaddemands and need to operate, for example, at 95% capacity, leaving a 5%spinning reserve margin at noon. Thus, in this example, the electricpower generation facility 110 may be configured to determine at midnighta power grid spinning reserve forecast requirement of an additional 45%capacity needed to meet demands at noon in the summer.

The electrical power grid 100 or electric power facility 110 may befurther configured to receive, initiate, and/or transmit instructions toadjust power generation of the one or more non-wind power generators 112based on one or more of the near term wind generation capability, thepower generator contributions to the spinning reserve for the powergrid, and/or the power grid spinning reserve forecast requirement. Suchinstructions may comprise a signal, and may be transmitted through wiredcommunications or through wireless networks. Information for providingsuch instructions may be obtained from global climate monitoringsatellites, for example, and may be based on monthly or yearly averagesand lower atmospheric measurements. As used herein, the term “adjust”may mean increasing power generation, decreasing power generation,initiating power generation of an idle power generator, and/or shuttingdown power generation of the one or more power generators.

If the region 114 in which the wind turbine farms 220 are situated isexpected to experience blade icing conditions at noon, for example,then, according to an embodiment of the disclosure, the power generationfacility may be configured to anticipate such blade icing conditionsand/or be apprised of such blade icing conditions in real time. If, inthis example, the noon blade icing conditions reduce the wind turbinefarm's contribution to the capacity of the electrical power grid by 50%,this 50% lost capacity may be made up for in real time by relying on thespinning reserve and adjusting the non-wind power generators 112, i.e.,by increasing their output to match the loss of wind power. On the otherhand, if demand for power at a given time drops, and if it is moreeconomical for the electrical power grid 100 or electric power facility110 to employ wind power, then, according to an embodiment of thedisclosure, the non-wind power generators 112 may be adjusted todecrease their power output with the system relying more heavily on thewind power contributions of the wind turbine farms 220.

The electrical power grid 100 or power generation facility 110 may thusbe configured to adjust the power generation of the one or more non-windpower generators 112 by decreasing that power generation in response toa determination of increased near term wind generation capability, andmay be further configured to adjust the power generation of the one ormore non-wind power generators 112 by increasing that power generationin response to a determination of decreased near term wind generationcapability.

According to another embodiment of the disclosure, the systems and/ormethods described herein may be employed to decrease power output orshut down non-wind power generators 112 in advance of a drop in powerprice spark spread, for example, due to an increase in wind capability.“Spark spread” is a monetary difference between the cost of productionof a commodity, such as energy, and the current market price. Becausespark spread varies instantaneously, it may be advantageous to employthe systems and methods of the disclosure in order to maximize sparkspread at any given moment in time, based on the real time informationbeing received.

According to another embodiment of the disclosure, the electrical powergrid 100 or electric power generation facility 110 may be configured toadjust power generation of the non-wind power generators 112 based onone or more of the near term wind generation capability, power generatorcontributions to the spinning reserve, and/or the spinning reserveforecast requirement. The spinning reserve forecast requirement may bedetermined by determining a change in power consumption demand based onhistorical power consumption patterns.

According to another embodiment of the disclosure, the electrical powergrid 100 may serve a plurality of regions 114 in which wind turbinefarms 220 reside. According to this embodiment, each region 114 may beserved by at least one wind power generating system, such as a windturbine farm 220, and at least one electric power generation facility110. Other combinations are of course possible. In this embodiment, theelectrical power grid 100 may be configured to simultaneously adjust oneor more non-wind power generators 112 in each region 114 based on nearterm wind power generation capability and the power generating facilityspinning forecast requirement for each region.

FIG. 2 illustrates a flow diagram for a method of practicing anembodiment of the disclosure. According to a method there illustrated,at operation 250, a spinning reserve margin, for example, for an onlineelectrical power grid 100 served by one or more non-wind powergenerators 112, may be determined as set forth herein. A wind turbinegeneration capability model may also be determined, which model may beused to determine wind turbine generation capability of a particularregion 114 within the electrical power grid 100 at a particular time.This capability model may be bounded by parameters such as the maximumdesign capability of the wind turbine generating units, the wind speedrequired to produce this design capability, the wind direction relativeto the surrounding topography such as hills and trees as well as theother wind turbine generating units within that collective since thetopography can mask a portion of the available wind energy, the airtemperature and relative humidity since turbine blade icing is dependenton these parameters, expected wind gust velocity relative to the meanvelocity since gusts can cause over-speed and over-torque damage to thewind turbine, scheduled and un-scheduled maintenance due, etc.

At operation 260, one or more atmospheric and/or environmental factors,such as those previously described (GIS i.e., Geospatial InformationSystem input), influencing wind turbine generation capability for aregion 114 associated with the online electric power grid may bedetermined. In the United States, regions are divided by ISO into fiveregions, which generally also include sub-regions having boundariesdefined by major utilities. As used herein, a region 114 may be one ofthe five ISO regions, one of the sub-regions, or any other generallyrecognized geographic region for electrical power generation.

At least one of the atmospheric or environmental factors determined atoperation 260 for a region 114 of interest may be used at operation 270to determine near term wind turbine generation capability of a windpower generation system, such as wind turbine farms 220 within theelectrical power grid 100 and/or connected thereto. For example, if atoperation 260, it is determined that the region 114 of interest isexperiencing decreased wind speed diminishing by 50%, then, assuming noother variables or factors are present, operation 270 may determine thatsuch wind speed reduction would result in a 50% decrease in wind powergeneration capability within the region in the near term. As usedherein, the phrase “near term” is intended to refer to conditionsapproximating instantaneous current conditions, including actual currentconditions, as well as recent conditions, i.e., within the past hour orless, and predicted conditions, i.e., within the next hour or less, orup to the next day.

At operation 280, a determination may be made concerning those non-windpower generators 112 that are contributing to the spinning reserve ofthe electrical power grid 100. For example, if an electrical power grid100 is connected to ten gas turbines, but only eight are online, thenthe spinning reserve would be determined using only the excess capacityof the eight online turbines, as the two offline turbines would beconsidered non-spinning reserve.

At operation 285, a determination may be made concerning the spinningreserve forecast requirement for the electrical power grid 100 aspreviously described. Such determination may be made, for example, byforecasting a change in power demand based on historical data, knownpower demand behaviors, time of day, time of year, etc.

Based on one or more of the determinations made at operations 250, 260,270, 280, and/or 285, at operation 290, a command, instruction, signal,or other control operation may be executed in order to sequence reservenon-wind power generator 112 capacity, for example, by transmitting to alocal control unit an instruction to increase or decrease the poweroutput of one or more non-wind power generators 112. Operation 295 mayinvolve discontinuing the command, instruction, or signal, for example,in response to an indication that the command has been initiated.

In one embodiment of the disclosure, instructions such as provided atoperation 290 may be initiated to adjust power generation of one or morenon-wind power generators 112 based on the near term wind generationcapability, and/or the power generator contributions to spinning reservefor the online electrical power grid 100, and/or the power grid spinningreserve forecast requirement. For example, if the near term windgeneration capability suddenly decreases due to decreased wind speed, aninstruction may be sent to a local control module to make up for thedrop in wind power output by correspondingly increasing power output byone or more non-wind power generators 112 having adequate spinningreserve margin. In this regard, depending upon the spinning reservemargin available, and the amount of additional power generation needed,and depending upon the respective power generator contributions tospinning reserve, it may be necessary to increase the power generationof all of the available power generators, only some of them, or possiblyonly one of them, as conditions dictate.

An aspect of some embodiments of the disclosure is making one or more ofthe determinations described herein in “real time” or on a regular basisseparated by relatively short intervals. For example, at operation 260,the determination of an atmospheric or environmental factor may be madedaily, hourly, every 10 seconds, or even more frequently, continuously,or any other desirable interval. As another example, the contributionsof each non-wind power generator 112 to spinning reserve of anelectrical power grid 100 may be determined on a continuous basis, bycontinuously monitoring the power output of each non-wind powergenerator 112 as a function of available capacity for each non-windpower generator 112. As will be readily appreciated, the more frequentlydeterminations are made in conducting the operations described herein,the more precisely and timely a control change command may be made toadjust power generation in order to most efficiently respond to currentconditions, or even anticipate future conditions.

Another aspect of the disclosure is illustrated in FIG. 3. In thisaspect, there may be provided a method to improve power generation assetmanager decision fidelity concerning whether or not to shut down, inadvance of a drop in power price spark spread, due to an increase in theavailability of a lower cost power source, such as increased windturbine capability. Thus, a determination of electrical power gridspinning reserve, of a wind turbine generation capability model, and/ora power price spark spread may be performed at operation 350.

At operation 360, a determination may be made of one or more atmosphericand/or environmental factors (GIS input) as previously described. Atoperation 370, a determination may be made of wind turbine generationcapability within the electrical power grid 100, as previouslydescribed. At operation 380, a determination of non-wind powergenerators 112 contributing to spinning reserve of the electrical powergrid 100 may be made as previously described. At operation 385, adetermination may be made of the electrical power grid 100 spinningreserve forecast requirement as previously described. Additionally, oralternatively, at operation 385 a determination may be made regardingpower price spark spread forecast. As with other forecast determinationsdescribed herein, such power price spark spread forecasts may be madebased on historical data, for example, data relating to increased costof natural gas during winter months when demand may be higher. Based onone or more of these determinations, at operation 390 a decision may bemade to adjust, i.e., increase, decrease, or shut down, power productionof one or more non-wind power generators 112. Such adjustment may bemade by sending a signal or instruction to appropriate controls for therelevant non-wind power generators 112.

Operation 390 may comprise providing instructions to adjust powergeneration of the one or more non-wind power generators 112 based on thenear term wind turbine generation capability of wind turbine farms 220connected to the electrical power grid 100 and the power price sparkspread. For example, assume that a power generation facility 110comprises a series of non-wind power generators 112, such as gas turbinegenerators running on natural gas. If a determination is made that powerprice spark spread for the power generation facility 110 has decreased,or is expected to decrease, either due to an increase in fuel costs,such as natural gas prices for natural gas used to run the gas turbinepower generators 112, or due to a decrease in the price which the powergeneration facility 110 can charge for the electricity it generates, orboth, then a decision may be made to adjust the non-wind powergenerators 112 running on natural gas, (or any other commodity, such assteam turbines employing steam generated by boilers burning fuel oil,coal, etc.) for example by shutting one or more of such non-wind powergenerators 112 down and/or reducing their power generation, whilereplacing the power generation thus lost with increased poweravailability due to an increase in a secondary, less costly energysource, such as wind power available from a wind turbine farm 220experiencing, for example, an increase in wind speed and thus windgeneration capability. Such process may be reversed, for example, whenthe wind turbine farm 220 experiences a loss in wind power generatingcapability, for example, due to decreased wind speed, at which point thespinning reserve of the non-wind power generators 112 may be relied uponby increasing power generation of running power generators or initiatingstartup of idle non-wind power generators 112 to make up for the lostpower generating capability of the wind turbine farm 220. The processmay be terminated at operation 395 upon completion of such instructions.

The above detailed description describes embodiments wherein power beinggenerated by non-wind power generators, such as gas turbines, associatedwith a power generation facility 110 may be augmented with secondarypower sources comprising other power generation equipment, such as windturbine farms 220. It will now be appreciated that other secondary powersources, such as solar arrays 210 may be used in place or, or inaddition to, wind turbine farms 220. Other combinations of secondarypower sources are also possible and contemplated to be within the scopeof this disclosure.

The systems, methods, determinations and operations described herein maybe configured with or performed with the assistance of a processor and amemory coupled to the processor, the memory having stored thereonexecutable instructions that when executed by the processor cause theprocessor to effectuate one or more of the determinations and/oroperations described herein.

This written description uses examples to disclose illustrativeembodiments of the invention, including the best mode, and also toenable any person of ordinary skill in the art to practice theinvention, including making and using any devices or systems andperforming any incorporated methods. The operations recited in theaccompanying method claims need not be taken in the recited order, whereother orders of conducting the operations to achieve the desired resultwould be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art.Similarly, not every operation set forth in the detailed descriptionneed be employed, and the recitation of some operations does not implythe exclusion of additional operations. The patentable scope of theinvention is defined by the claims, and may include other examples thatoccur to those of ordinary skill in the art. Such other examples areintended to be within the scope of the claims if they have structuralelements that do not differ from the literal language of the claims orif they include equivalent structural elements with insubstantialdifferences from the literal languages of the claims. As used herein, anelement or function recited in the singular and proceeded with the word“a” or “an” should be understood as not excluding plural such elementsor functions, unless such exclusion is explicitly recited. Furthermore,references to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment” of the claimedinvention should not be interpreted as excluding the existence ofadditional embodiments that also incorporate the recited features.

What is claimed:
 1. A method comprising: a. determining a spinningreserve margin for an online electric power grid served by one or morenon-wind power generators; b. determining at least one atmospheric orenvironmental factor influencing wind generation capability for a regionassociated with the online electric power grid; c. determining, based onthe at least one atmospheric or environmental factor, near term windgeneration capability of a wind power generation system connected to theonline electric power grid; d. determining a power grid spinning reserveforecast requirement; and e. providing instructions to adjust powergeneration of the one or more non-wind power generators based on thenear term wind generation capability, the spinning reserve margin,and/or the power grid spinning reserve forecast requirement.
 2. Themethod of claim 1 wherein the one or more non-wind power generators areselected from the group comprising gas turbine generators, steam turbinegenerators, battery packs, and capacitor banks.
 3. The method of claim 1wherein the at least one atmospheric or environmental factor is obtainedin a region in which the wind power generation system is located or inwhich power generated by the wind power generation system is utilized.4. The method of claim 3 wherein the at least one atmospheric orenvironmental factor is selected from the group comprising wind speed,wind direction, icing on wind turbine blades, lightning strikes, andwave height for off-shore units.
 5. The method of claim 1 wherein if thedetermining, based on the at least one atmospheric or environmentalfactor, of the near term wind generation capability of the wind powergeneration system results in a determination of increased near term windgeneration capability, then adjusting the power generation of the one ormore non-wind power generators by decreasing the power generation of theone or more non-wind power generators, and if the determining, based onthe at least one atmospheric or environmental factor, of the near termwind generation capability of the wind power generation system resultsin a determination of decreased near term wind generation capability,then adjusting the power generation of the one or more non-wind powergenerators by increasing the power generation of the one or morenon-wind power generators.
 6. The method of claim 1 comprising aplurality of regions, wherein each region is served by at least one windpower generation system and at least one online electric power grid, themethod further comprising providing instructions to simultaneouslyadjust one or more non-wind power generators in each region based on thenear term wind generation capability and the power grid spinningforecast requirement for each region.
 7. The method of claim 1 whereinproviding instructions comprises transmitting a signal to the one ormore non-wind power generators.
 8. The method of claim 7 wherein thesignal comprises a wireless transmission.
 9. The method of claim 1wherein determining the power grid spinning reserve forecast requirementcomprises determining a change in power consumption demand based onhistorical power consumption patterns.
 10. The method of claim 1,further comprising determining power generator contributions to spinningreserve for the online electric power grid, and providing instructionsto adjust power generation of the one or more non-wind power generatorsbased on the near term wind generation capability, the non-wind powergenerator contributions to spinning reserve for the online electricpower grid, and the power grid spinning reserve forecast requirement.11. An electric power system comprising an electric power gridcomprising one or more non-wind power generators; the electric powergrid configured to determine a spinning reserve margin for the one ormore non-wind power generators; the electric power grid furtherconfigured to determine at least one atmospheric or environmental factorinfluencing wind generation capability for a region associated with theelectric power grid; the electric power grid further configured todetermine, based on the at least one atmospheric or environmentalfactor, near term wind generation capability of a wind power generationsystem connected to the electric power grid; the electric power gridfurther configured to determine a power grid spinning reserve forecastrequirement; the electric power grid further configured to receive,initiate, and/or transmit instructions to adjust power generation of theone or more non-wind power generators based on the near term windgeneration capability and the power grid spinning reserve forecastrequirement.
 12. The electric power system of claim 11, furtherconfigured to determine non-wind power generator contributions tospinning reserve for the electric power grid, and further configured toprovide instructions to adjust power generation of the one or morenon-wind power generators based on the near term wind generationcapability, the non-wind power generator contributions to the spinningreserve for the power grid, and the power grid spinning reserve forecastrequirement.
 13. The electric power system of claim 11, wherein the oneor more non-wind power generators are selected from the group comprisinggas turbine generators, steam turbine generators, battery packs, andcapacitor banks.
 14. The electric power system of claim 11, wherein theelectric power system is further configured to obtain the at least oneatmospheric or environmental factor from a region in which the windpower generation system is located, or in which power generated by thewind power generation system is utilized.
 15. The electric power systemof claim 11, wherein the at least one atmospheric or environmentalfactor is selected from the group comprising wind speed, wind direction,icing on wind turbine blades, lightning strikes, and wave height foroff-shore units.
 16. The electric power system of claim 11, wherein thesystem is further configured to adjust the power generation of the oneor more non-wind power generators by decreasing that power generation inresponse to a determination of increased near term wind generationcapability, and wherein the electric power system is further configuredto adjust the power generation of the one or more non-wind powergenerators by increasing that power generation in response to adetermination of decreased near term wind generation capability.
 17. Theelectric power system of claim 11, the electric power system serving aplurality of regions, wherein each region is served by at least one windpower generation system and at least one electric power grid, theelectric power system further configured to simultaneously adjust one ormore non-wind power generators in each region based on the near termwind generation capability and the power grid spinning reserve forecastrequirement for each region.
 18. The electric power system of claim 11,wherein the instructions to adjust power generation of the one or morenon-wind power generators based on the near term wind generationcapability and the power grid spinning reserve forecast requirementcomprise a signal.
 19. A method comprising: a. determining a power pricespark spread for power being produced by one or more non-wind powergenerators associated with an electric power grid; b. determining nearterm wind generation capability of a wind power generation systemconnected to the online electric power grid; and c. determining, basedon the power price spark spread and the near term wind generationcapability, whether to adjust power generation of the one or morenon-wind power generators.
 20. The method of claim 19 wherein ifdetermining whether to adjust power generation of the one or morenon-wind power generators results in a determination to adjust powergeneration of the one or more non-wind power generators, then providinginstructions to adjust the one or more non-wind power generators.